


Spoiler Alert: Forgiveness

by GothamRogue81



Series: Scenes from Gotham City [9]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily Feels, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 13:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6756631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothamRogue81/pseuds/GothamRogue81
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoiler helps an abuse victim and gains respect from Batman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spoiler Alert: Forgiveness

A scream rang out in the Narrows. In a low-income apartment building, neighbors turned their televisions and radios volume up louder as the loud booming voice of a drunken man yelled at his daughter. A typical night in the worst part of town where no one seems to be on anyone's side but their own. “What the fuck is wrong with you!? “ 

There was a crash as a lamp hit the thin wall separating the girl’s bedroom from the room next door. Her father, red faced and wild eyed, stood in the doorway. He eyed her hungrily. “You wanna dress like a slut, you’re going to get treated like a slut!” he shouted. She was in a skirt and a vneck shirt with a denim coat on. it was hardly a slutty outfit. More Taylor Swift than Miley Cyrus. He reached down and unbuckled his belt. The girl wasn’t sure what his intentions were, but whichever action he was about to take was going to be painful regardless. She scrambled off of her bed and tried to push past him.

He reached over and grabbed her by the back of the head, entwining his fingers in her hair. “Little bitch! Just like your mother!” he said, yanking her back and slamming her against the wall of her closet. He pushed her against the wall pressing himself against her from behind, gritting his teeth. The stench of whisky and cigarettes made her wince as his hand reached down and pushed her skirt up over her waist.

She closed her eyes, tears streaming, and tried to go to a happy place as he muttered. "You made her leave me, and now you're gonna take care of your daddy!" he whispered in her ear as she shuddered in terror. Suddenly, however, her eyes flung open as she watched her father’s head meet the wall and enter the closet behind it. Her eyes followed from the back of his head up to the black and purple gloved hand that had put it there. She looked back and stared at the cloaked girl behind her. 

Before she could gather her own thoughts, she watched as Spoiler pulled her father’s limp body off of her. His hair covered in drywall dust, and blood dripping from his forehead, he spun around dazed. “Who the fuck…” he started to say, but was interrupted with a boot to the throat. Spoiler pushed her heel against his throat, pinning him to the wall. 

“Shut up! You don’t get to talk. In fact you’ll be lucky if I allow you to ever be able to speak again,” she said. She turned to the girl. “Pack your things. Anything you want to take…anything of his that you want to take.” she said behind the black veil.

The girl gathered up her things, stuffing as much clothes and personal belongings, of which there was not much, into a small duffle bag. Spoiler turned her attention back to the drunken man. “How does it feel? How does it feel to have your life be held in someone else’s hand? To be made to feel weak and insignificant. To be overpowered. Men like you are not men at all,” she said, applying more pressure to his throat. He reached up, struggling to pull her leg away from him, but she was too strong and he was too weak.

“That girl is your daughter, not your punching bag. Not your toy. Not your whore,” she said. “She’s a human being who you almost ruined for life. You’re done here. You don’t even get to live out the rest of your crappy life in this shithole. Find another town and don’t ever come back. If I hear you’ve come back, I’ll be the least of your worries,” she said.

As she pulled away, he went to speak, but Spoiler spun her leg and kicking him in the side of the head, knocking him out. “You ready?” she said to the girl as she walked out of the room. 

She nodded, trembling and wiping tears from her face. “Where are we going?” she asked.

“Saint Elizabeth’s,” Spoiler replied. “You’ll be safe there.”

She almost started crying all over again. “Isn’t that a boarding house? I don’t want to go to a home? I’m not a kid!” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate you saving me,”

Spoiler looked at her, touching her hand and squeezing it. She could feel the fear running through her. “Listen,” Spoiler said. “I know what you’re going through, trust me. St. Elizabeth’s is run by a friend of mine. You’ll be fine. You’ll be safe, and they’ll help you set yourself up to succeed in  
life, as opposed to letting the past hold you back,” she said.

Kate Kane had opened up the girls home after a conversation with Bruce Wayne. It was meant to be a sister location for St. Swithin's Home for Boys. “It’s not for little girls. You’ll be with girls your age who’ve had similar experiences and you’ll have support and love. I promise you,” she continued.

The girl fought back tears and nodded. She followed Spoiler outside and stopped at the curb. The roar of a motorcycle echoed in the streets and suddenly another hooded figure turned a corner and pulled up to them. “This her?” a voice asked behind the red hood. Spoiler nodded. “Alright kid, hop on, let’s get you a happier life!” he said.

Spoiler turned to the girl. “Red Hood will take you to St. Catherine's. They’ll see to it you’re taken care of and I’ll come check in on you. I promise,” she said. 

The girl threw her arms around her. “Thank you,” she whispered, crying. 

“Alright, come on,” Red Hood said. “I’ve got a long night ahead of me and Kate’s waiting,” he said. He looked over to Spoiler. "Her Dad's lucky it wasn't me up there with them," he said. "I'll catch you later Spoiler."

The girl looked over at Spoiler with wide, frightened eyes. “He’s ok. You’ll be alright,” Spoiler said to her, helping her load her bag on the back of his bike. As Red Hood sped off to take the girl to safety, Spoiler raised her arm and launched her grappling hook to the roof above.

 

When she landed, she stood up and saw Batman staring there. “You did a good thing tonight,” he said.

“Oh?” she said, walking past him and getting ready to hop to another roof.

“Spoiler...,” he said as she walked by him. When she kept going, he lowered his voice. “Stephanie!” he said in a barely audible whisper. She stopped and turned. He walked towards her. “You did good tonight. You handled it like a professional. You didn’t overstep or go too far, and I have to admit, if it were me in there, I would have been tempted to make that scumbag pay a little worse for his crimes,” he said.

“You’re stronger than I give you credit for. I’ve made mistakes, and with you, I’ve made more than my fair share. You deserve respect. You’ve earned it,” he said. 

She stayed silent. She didn’t know what to think. For so long she had felt like a thorn in Batman’s side. She had been used by him, tossed aside. He had treated her like a nuisance and at times, made her feel the same unwanted-worthless feelings that her own father had made her feel.

“I’m not the best at emotions,” he said. That was the understatement of the century. “As big as our family is, I’m not a very good father. To any of you.” He said.  
He was including her. She felt her eyes well up and bit her lip. “I’ve made mistake after mistake, thinking I could have a normal life. I constantly try and make up for the childhood I never had by giving other kids a chance, and instead of nurturing them the way my father and mother did to me, I’ve only fed into their pain and created more versions of myself, instead of what I could have been,” 

“I just want you to know that I’m proud of you. And I want you to know that I’m sorry for pushing you away or putting you down,” he said.

She stepped forward and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Thanks Bruce,” she whispered. 

He kissed the top of her hooded head. “See you at home,” he said, before the two stepped apart and she bounded off the roof and into the night. 

“That was sweet,” a sultry voice said behind him. He turned to see Catwoman walking towards him. She reached up and touched his face. “You’re getting much better at the Dad thing Bats,” she said. 

“I felt bad,” he said. “She’s been through a lot and I’ve been less than accepting of her. Instead of being supportive and compassionate I was cold and judgmental,” he said.

She kissed his lips softly. “Oh how I wish I could record these moments,” she said. “When you admit that you’re wrong.” She smirked. “You’re cold heart is melting a little at a time, and I know that what you said meant a lot to her. She just wants your acceptance and approval. She reminds me so much of myself.”

He touched her waist, kissing her again. “Oh look,” she said, pulling back. “Looks like you’ve got to go back to work,” she said, nodding her head towards the signal in the sky. She pushed away from him and stepped backwards. “Duty calls my love,” she said with a snicker, before leaping off the building and leaving him alone.

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this after reading a post from a blogger on Tumblr. It was filled with awful truths, some of which I hadn't even realized. As much of a fan of Batman as I am, I'm not always a fan of DC and their writers, and the blogger's issues with them definitely made sense. This is a small work to try and make things better in my mind for the dynamic between Stephanie Brown and Batman. Below is the original post that got me thinking. It's a little lengthy but so many good points. She's an incredibly inspirational character and she has such depth that she is perfect for dark serious gripping stories. It's a shame that so far, she's mostly played DC's doormat:
> 
> "Let's make a character. Let's have her grow up with an abusive father who beats her and her mother. Have her mother turn to drugs because their life sucks so much. Let's have her have been sexually assaulted when she was younger by one of her father's friends. Let's show that she slept with total assholes - heavily implied it was because she was depressed - and got pregnant"
> 
> "Let's have Batman repeatedly intimidate, emotionally manipulate and tell her she's not good enough. Let's have Robin tell her he'll date her on the condition she's ok with the fact that he'll never tell her his civilian identity, never tell her where he lives, what his family is, his real name - all while having invaded her privacy to find out everything there is to know about her. Let's have her accept without hesitation because he's "the nicest guy she ever dated" and "probably too good for her" Naturally when she sees him interacting with girls he's close to in his "other life" she wonders if he's actually using and cheating on her like every other boy she's been with. When Batman tells her boyfriends identity, she goes to see him and he gets so mad. Everyone blames her for this even though she literally had no choice in the matter."
> 
> "Let's have Batman fire her later on without explanation LITERALLY SAYING it's "because your father (who abused you...repeatedly) is a criminal. Oh by the way sorry he died (he serious said that..Batman who won't shut up about his dead parents literally does not give a shit when other people's parents die."
> 
> Let's have Batman decide to rehire her SOELY TO USE HER AS A PAWN TO GET BACK AT HIS TEENAGE CHARGE. Let's have him make her Robin, supposedly the most trusted aid and position, and still refuse to tell her he's really Bruce Wayne because he just wants to use her. Like he straight up says it's to make Tim jealous. he emotionally manipulates her, makes her believe she has a chance to have a father figure, the chance to make him proud and then fires her on her first mistake and never contacts her again. Basically like every other older man, he emotionally abuses and uses her as nothing but a tool."
> 
> "Let's have her desperately try to prove to Batman she's good enough, end up accidentally triggering a gang war because she didn't know Batman's actual identity even though she was his sidekick! Then let's have her be tortured to death in a sexualized position with a power drill (a penetrating weapon) by a male villain, who repeatedly jokes about her sexuality and how he wants to molest her and how she should have stayed in the kitchen. like there's not even subtext there. And then lets' have literally everyone - her boyfriend, her best friend (THEY HAD CASS DO THIS AND I'M STILL SO ANGRY), Batman, The NEWS, HER GHOST!!! blame her for her death. Say it was because she screwed up."
> 
> "And she doesn't get a memorial. Fans have to campaign for years to get one. And get her to come back. And the guy who wrote her death says of these fans "those girls were so annoying I wanted to shoot them in the face" DC Comics Everyone.."


End file.
